“Happy Changes”
July 8th, 2008 | by Ed |The news magazine The Week, recently reviewed a column written by Michael Kinsley, columnist for The New York Times, in which he pointed out that the mantra for the 2008 presidential race is “change.” Barak Obama led the charge as the candidate for change, but the other Democratic candidates, and even the Republican candidates quickly joined the bandwagon of change.
“The appeal of change,” says Michael Kinsley, “is that it sounds dynamic without committing you to anything in particular.”
That’s how most people like change: clothed in fuzzy generalities and devoid of any specifics. This allows us to give “change” any meaning we want. Keep it vague and abstract, and we don’t take a risk that “change” will actually require anything from us.
So, if change is to mean anything, the candidates must be clear and specific as to what they plan to change. Our addiction to foreign oil? Our failing public education system? Spiraling health care costs? An out-of-control national debt?
“If so, great,” says Michael Kinsley. “But solving those problems requires sacrifices that voters in the past have been unwilling to make, and that politicians have been unwilling to champion.”
Then Michael Kinsley makes this observation:
“It’s easy to say you want change, but if all you want is happy changes, you really don’t want change at all.”
What a great line! We all want change, but we want “happy changes” that don’t require sacrifice. So we settle for band-aid remedies that allow us to live in the illusion that we really have changed something.
When I write my first book, I’m going to entitle it 15 Difficult, Pain-Filled Steps to Lasting Change. I don’t expect it to be a national bestseller. After all, it’ll be on the bookshelf along side other books with titles such as 5 Simple Steps to Instant Success and You Can Have It All, Right Now! and The Easy, Painless Path to a New and Better You. Seriously, would you buy my book?
We all want easy, painless “happy changes” that require very little of us and cost us even less. I’m reminded of a sign I saw at a steakhouse. In large letters it said, “T-bones $3.99.” And below that, in real small letters were the words, “With meat $12.99.”
If we want more than “happy changes,” if we really want change “with meat on it”, then we need to be prepared to pay the cost.